Name of Host Organization: Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless

City, State: Washington, DC

Issue area: Children/Youth, Housing/Homelessness

Sponsor: Arnold & Porter LLP

Emily Benfer advocates on behalf of the nearly 5,000 homeless children in the District of Columbia. Her project, DC HEART, addresses the debilitating effects of homelessness on a child’s emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing. She works to improve shelter conditions, increase nutrition and provide children with access to healthcare and an appropriate education. Through legal assistance in the areas of education, healthcare and public benefits; workshops at shelters; collaboration with community groups and education providers; and parent outreach programs, Emily is helping to break the cycle of homelessness for children and future generations. Emily’s dedication to the needs of homeless children and families was first inspired when she discovered the dangerous and threatening family shelter conditions during her internship at the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. “In that setting of despair, I realized that my most valuable contribution as an advocate is to strive for a system that recognizes the strengths of individuals in need, lifts them above their struggles and helps them to achieve their full potential,” Emily stated. “Human beings deserve no less.” Emily’s past experiences in poverty law and the human and civil rights fields prepared her to implement DC HEART. As a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, Zimbabwe and Belize, Emily organized members of impoverished communities and determined that she could surmount even greater barriers through legal advocacy. Emily also worked as a law clerk at New Haven Legal Assistance Association, the national Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Protective Order Pro Bono Project, Teen Court and as a court extern for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. These experiences gave Emily critical insight into the many hurdles facing children raised under adverse living conditions and the tools with which to find real solutions to the inequities.